These particular ASUS STRIX models don't seem to have arrived at Amazon yet but Gigabyte, Sapphire, MSI and XFX are all showing up with prices, though perhaps not reasonable availability. Newegg is also showing similar models and pricing, so keep your eyes out for the ASUS cards to appear.

The Strix R9 390X and R9 390 are equipped with ASUS-exclusive DirectCU III cooling technology, which features two 10mm direct-GPU-contact heat pipes — outperforming reference designs for gaming performance by up to 30%. They each have three fans engineered with a patented, new wing-blade design that delivers maximum airflow and static pressure over the heat sink — giving a 105% improvement over fans without wing-blades. This exclusive triple wing-blade design operates at noise levels three times (3X) quieter than reference cards, making DirectCU III the coolest and quietest graphics card-cooling solution available to date.

The Strix R9 390X, R9 390, R9 380 and R7 370 benefit from ASUS-exclusive Auto-Extreme technology, the industry’s first 100%-automated manufacturing process that removes human fallibility from the production line for consistent perfection — making them ultra-reliable in all scenarios, from general use to hardcore gaming and overclocking. Auto-Extreme technology eliminates flux to minimize dust buildup and oxidization, while the rear of the printed-circuit boards are totally smooth, for easy handling. This new manufacturing process is also environmentally friendly, eliminating the need for harsh chemicals and reducing production power consumption by 50%.

The new cards also feature aerospace-grade Super Alloy Power II1 components for enhanced efficiency, reduced mechanical noise under load, and lower operating temperatures for unsurpassed quality and reliability. Complementing their amazing reliability, the latest Strix graphics cards are built to be incredibly tough. The Strix R9 390X, R9 390 and R9 380 each come with a strengthened backplate that provides protection and also prevents PCB bending over time.

Tweakable and intuitive: GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster

Redesigned with an intuitive, all-new user interface, GPU Tweak II makes gaming and overclocking the new Strix cards easier and more visual than ever, while retaining advanced options for seasoned overclockers. With one click, the new Gaming Booster function maximizes system performance by removing redundant processes and allocating all available resources automatically. An included 1-year XSplit Gamecaster premium license — a $99 value — lets gamers easily stream or record gameplay via a convenient, in-game overlay.

So far the only published review with benchmarks is this one from Legion Hardware, with many others including Ryan's to follow as the benchmark monkeys are whipped to a furious pace. The initial results show roughly what has been expected, the R9 390X is roughly 10% faster overall than the 290X and about 6% faster than the base 390 model which itself is roughly 8% faster than the previous 290. The 380 shows a similar 6% gain over the 285 and performance wise can tie the GTX 960. Bear in mind this is very preliminary review, as time is needed to properly test and to overclock the cards, keep your eyes peeled for more reviews and cards from other sources.

"Firstly we would like to thank HIS for supplying their HIS Radeon R9 390X IceQ X2 OC 8GB, R9 390 IceQ X2 OC 8GB and R9 380 IceQ X2 OC 2GB graphics cards. The cooling performance of their IceQ X2 cooler was excellent on all three cards and they look very eye catching as well."

Now that they have had time with the new NVIDIA card to test on games both familiar and new, [H]ard|OCP have put together a longer review of the GTX 980 Ti. The Witcher 3 shows that for 4K gamers, the extra power of the TITAN does marginally beat out the newcomer. Indeed that tended to hold true in many games, Dying Light and Far Cry 4 all saw the 980 Ti needing to lower graphical settings to remain at a decent frame rate but still remained a far better value for those gaming at 1440p. They compare VRAM usage at 1440p versus 4K resolutions and it is obvious how much more memory is consumed as resolution increases. Considering how none of the games tested used even half of the 12GB of VRAM on the TITAN it will be very interesting to see how AMD's new smaller sized but higher bandwidth HBM-based card will perform.

"Now that we have had some solid gaming time with the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, we will be putting it up against the GTX 980 and TITAN X video cards, in the full HardOCP GPU review format. We are including new games, The Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto V. We also look at VRAM utilization and power and temperature levels."

During the PC Gamer PC Gaming Show, much of the industry was on hand to talk about its take on the state of PC gaming. While there, AMD took the opportunity to show off the dual-GPU Fiji-based AMD Radeon R9 Fury X2 card. (Editor's note: we don't have official confirmation on that name for the card, but it would make sense, right? We'll go with that for the time being.) We don't know much about the specifics on clocks, shader counts or performance, but we do know that AMD is able to cram a HUGE amount of GPU compute capability into an incredibly small space thanks to the high bandwidth memory innovation.

Shown at the PC Gaming Show tonight...

Interesting, just a couple of days ago we were sent this image anonymously:

What's interesting here is that I was told "this is how they test" the GPUs before installing the water block on it. Those are high-end CPU coolers that have been modified slightly to be installed on the lay-flat Fury X2 PCB. This gives you an idea of the development process of building a graphics card like this...

A little blurry, but still informative.

This image, posted by Anshel Sag, Staff Technologist and Technical Writer at Moor Insights & Strategy, shows the bare PCB with the two Fiji GPUs and their HBM memory stacks. (Also, note those "Moor" logos are not really printed on the GPU dies...) There are two 8-pin power connectors on the PCB as well, odd considering that the single GPU Fury X uses the same configuration.

This card has been promised to us in the fall, though pricing and power and performance are to be discussed later. 2015 just keeps getting better for PC gamers!!

AMD revealed a new liquid cooled small form factor PC called Project Quantum during an E3 livestream today.

On the outside, an angled dual compartment aluminum case with rounded edges houses the processing hardware in the bottom and all the cooling components in the top part. AMD is using liquid cooling for the processor and graphics with the tubing running up the center column joining the two pieces together to a radiator or radiators. Red LEDs light up the center column while Radeon R9 branding sits in the bottom left corner.

While at first glance that Radeon R9 branding might be unassuming, it is actually referring to AMD's latest Fiji architecture. That's correct, Project Quantum is part of the Fiji product family and is, in fact, powered by two AMD Fiji-based graphics procesors!

Update: AMD has posted a behind-the-scenes video on the development of Project Quantum which you can watch below.

In the video, AMD reveals that they are using a modified ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac motherboard (thanks to djotter in the comments for pointing that out) which means that Project Quantum is using an Intel Haswell processor in addition to the two Fiji-based GPUs. AMD has removed all of the rear IO connectors save two USB 3.0 ports and an Ethernet jack. They have also moved the 8-pin CPU power connector to the back panel of the board next to the USB ports. My guess is that they did this for cable management and height restriction reasons within the bottom compartment. Specifically, from the CAD render shown in the video, it appears that the AMD graphics card sits horizontally on top of the motherboard which meant that at least some of the rear IO ports had to be removed or relocated.

Another bit of information from that AMD video is that Project Quantum is using what looks like an external power supply. The power brick connects to the system over a single cable to an internal board. This board provides power to a Pico PSU that is plugged into the ATX 24-pin connector on the motherboard and provides power to the AMD branded Solid State Drive (SSD) as well as the motherboard and CPU 8-pin connectors (which have both been modified to right angles for height and cable management reasons). The internal power board that connects to the socket at the back likely also powers the Radeon graphics card via PCI-E connectors, but it is difficult to tell from the photo (it is that red PCB towards the top of the photo).

Interestingly AMD has switched out the power and USB 3.0 headers with right angle models and removed the blue ASRock heatsinks covering the VRMs and PCH. AMD is instead using two large waterblocks to cool the components on the motherboard and graphics card. A large radiator and pump sit in the top compartment cooled by an 180mm Enermax Apollish fan. The 180mm radiator should result in quieter, or at least less annoying, fan noise since the large fan can spin slower while moving similar amounts of air as smaller fans paired with 120 or 140mm radiators. Using a single large radiator for both the CPU and GPU is an interesting choice here, and I think a correct one.

A rendering of the water loop layout on Project Quantum. Image from AMD with annotations by Aibohphobia.

It was actually djotter and Aibohphobia in the comments who spotted the Pico PSU and provided an example. (I did not notice that in the video initially, so thanks for pointing that out!) This power brick and tiny Pico PSU setup would certainly help to explain how AMD was able to make Project Quantum so thin (though an external PSU isn't necessarily a bad thing). The Pico PSU does suggest that the dual Fiji GPUs may be closer to lower end R9 Nanos than two high end Fury Xs (heh) or maybe some other yet unannounced cut-down Fiji chip entirely.

(End of update)

Update 9:30PM:

During the PC Gamer E3 Twitch stream, AMD CEO Lisa Su showed off Project Quantum, and Ken was able to snap a photo of the back panel.

Project Quantum has, from left to right, a single power input (see above), two analog audio jacks, two USB 3.0 ports, an Intel-powered Gigabit Ethernet jack, four USB 2.0 ports, and a single horizontal PCI slot. A Radeon R9 graphics card is installed in this slot and features three DisplayPort and one HDMI 1.4 video outputs. We still do not know all the specs of this card, but is is Fiji-based and supports LiquidVR along with AMD's other features including FreeSync and Frame Rate Target Control.

(End Update 9:30PM)

Beyond that, we do not know many details on Project Quantum. From the other announcements around Fiji today, particularly the R9 Nano and R9 Fury X, this little machine is going to be a powerhouse with impressive power efficiency and performance per watt – especially for its size!

Of course, pricing and availability were not discussed at the event. Stay tuned to PC Perspective as we get more details closer to its official release!

There is still a lot of information that AMD is saving for the official release, but those look to be some impressive graphics cards at first glance! The AMD Fury X is the small form factor water cooled version that we saw leaked this weekendwhile the AMD Fury (non-X) will be air cooled. It wasn't shown on stage though, so we can only guess what it will look like.

AMD's Joe Macri said on stage that the cooler they designed is built for up to 500 watts but that the board was only going to draw 275 watts, while keeping the board temperature down to 50C!

Other tidbits include 6-phase power with 400A (!!) power delivery for overclocking, an 8-LED user addressable array for performance load monitoring and 1.5x performance per watt improvement when compared to the R9 290X. That can help us estimate card performance but we'll dive more into that later.

Finally, though only a tease, AMD did say they were planning a dual-GPU variant of Fiji coming "in the fall."

On stage at the AMD E3 2015 press conference, AMD's CEO Lisa Su announced the Radeon R9 Nano, a 6-in PCB small form factor graphics card that will feature "2x the performance per watt of the R9 290X" as well as "significantly" more performance than the R9 290X.

We are looking for more information but because its branded R9 I don't know for sure if it's Fiji or Hawaii. I would assume that the advantages of HBM for form factor and power efficiency would tell us it uses AMD latest GPU in some cut down variation.

A blog post on NVIDIA's site indicates that Konami's upcoming game Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain will make use of NVIDIA technologies, a move that will undoubtedly rankle AMD graphics users who can't always see the full benefit of GameWorks enhancements.

"The world of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is going to be 200 times larger than the one explored in Ground Zeroes. Because so much of this game’s action depends on stealth, graphics are a key part of the gameplay. Shadows, light, and terrain have to be rendered perfectly. That’s a huge challenge in a game where the hero is free to find his own way from one point to another. Our engineers are signed up to work closely with Konami to get the graphics just right and to add special effects."

Now technically this quote doesn't confirm the use of any proprietary NVIDIA technology, though it sounds like that's exactly what will be taking place. In the wake of the Witcher 3 HairWorks controversy any such enhancements will certainly be looked upon with interest (especially as the next piece of big industry news will undoubtedly be coming with AMD's announcement later today at E3).

It's hard to argue with better graphical quality in high profile games such as the latest Metal Gear Solid installment, but there is certainly something to be said for adherence to open standards to ensure a more unified experience across GPUs. The dialog about inclusion though adherence to standards vs. proprietary solutions has been very heated with the FreeSync/G-Sync monitor refresh debate, and GameWorks is a series of tools that serves to further divide gamers, even as it provides an enhanced experience with GeForce GPUs.

Such advantages will likely matter less with DirectX 12 mitigating some differences with more efficiency in the vein of AMD's Mantle API, and if the rumored Fiji cards from AMD offer superior performance and arrive priced competitively this will matter even less. For now even though details are nonexistent expect an NVIDIA GeForce GPU to have the advantage in at least some graphical aspects of the latest Metal Gear title when it arrives on PC.

Join us tomorrow to learn all about AMD's plans for the next generation of GPUs! AMD is hosting a live stream of the event at 9am PT / 12pm ET and the PC Perspective team will be live blogging as well.

AMD E3 2015 Press Conference and Live Blog

9am PT / 12pm ET - June 16th

We expect to see official details of the R9 300-series of products of which there have been many leaks as well as the final details of the AMD Fury and Fury X products based on the new Fiji GPU. Join the team as we live blog the event and learn along with you!

You just never know what's going to come your way on Facebook on a Friday night. Take this evening for me: there I was sitting on the laptop minding my own business when up pops a notification about new messages to the PC Perspective page of FB. Anonymous user asks very simply "do you want pictures of skylake and r9 fury x".

With a smirk, knowing that I am going to be Rick-rolled in some capacity, I reply, "sure".

Well, that's a lot more than I was expecting! For the first time that I can see we are getting the entire view of the upcoming AMD Fury X graphics card, with the water cooler installed. The self-contained water cooler that will keep the Fiji GPU and its HBM memory at reliable temperatures looks to be quite robust. Morry, one of our experts in the water cooling fields, is guessing the radiator thickness to be around 45mm, but that's just a guess based on the images we have here. I like how the fan is in-set into the cooler design so that the total package looks more svelte than it might actually be.

The tubing for the liquid transfer between the GPU block and the rad is braided pretty heavily which should protect it from cuts and wear as well as help reduce evaporation. The card is definitely shorter compared to other flagship graphics cards and that allows AMD to output the tubing through the back of the card rather than out the top. This should help in smaller cases where users want to integrate multi-GPU configurations.

This shot shows the front of the card and details the display outputs: 3x DisplayPort and 1x HDMI.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, we can see that Fiji / Fury X will indeed require a pair of 8-pin power connections. That allows the card to draw as much as 375 total watts but that doesn't mean that will be the TDP of the card when it ships.

Also, for what it's worth, this source did identify himself to me and I have no reason to believe these are bogus. And the name is confirmed: AMD Radeon Fury X.

Overall, I like the design that AMD has gone with for this new flagship offering. It's unique, will stand out from the normal cards on the market and that alone will help get users attention, which is what AMD needs to make a splash with Fiji. I know that many people will lament the fact that Fury X requires a water cooler to stay competitive, and that it might restrict installation in some chassis (if you already have a CPU water cooler, for example), but I think ultra-high-end enthusiasts looking at $600+ GPUs will be just fine with the configuration.

Even more information has allegedly leaked out ahead of AMD’s official announcement of new 300-series Radeon GPUs, this time from rumor site WCCFtech. This information is totally unverified at least from any public source, but it is very specific regarding both price and GPU.

As to whether this comes via leaked slides or is complete guesswork, we’ll likely have no answer until the official unveiling. Such an announcement is likely the purpose of the AMD gaming event at E3 which is now just days away. We can only hope that Fiji will in fact be making an appearance at the show as it does not appear on this list (again, if accurate).

UPDATE: Did you miss the event? No worries, you can still learn all about the GTX 980 Ti, G-Sync changes and even how NVIDIA is changing VR! Once again, a HUGE thanks to NVIDIA and Tom Petersen for coming out to visit.

Even thought it's a week after official release, we are hosting a live stream from the PC Perspective offices with NVIDIA's Tom Petersen to discuss the new GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card as well as the changes and updates the company has made to the G-Sync brand. Why would NVIDIA undercut the GTX TITAN X by such a wide margin? Are they worried about AMD's Fiji GPU? Now that we are seeing new form factors and screen types of G-Sync monitors, will prices come down? How does G-Sync for notebooks work without a module?

All of this information and more will be learned on Tuesday, June 9th.

And what's a live stream without a prize? One lucky live viewer will win an EVGA GeForce GTX GTX 980 Ti 6GB graphics card of their very own! That's right - all you have to do is tune in for the live stream Tuesday afternoon and you could win a 980 Ti!!

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti / G-Sync Live Stream and Giveaway

12pm PT / 3pm ET - June 9th

The event will take place Tuesday, June 9th at 12pm PT / 3pm ET at http://www.pcper.com/live. There you’ll be able to catch the live video stream as well as use our chat room to interact with the audience. To win the prize you will have to be watching the live stream, with exact details of the methodology for handing out the goods coming at the time of the event.

Tom has a history of being both informative and entertaining and these live streaming events are always full of fun and technical information that you can get literally nowhere else.

If you have questions, please leave them in the comments below and we'll look through them just before the start of the live stream. Of course you'll be able to tweet us questions @pcper and we'll be keeping an eye on the IRC chat as well for more inquiries. What do you want to know and hear from Tom or I?

So join us! Set your calendar for this coming Tuesday at 12pm PT / 3pm ET and be here at PC Perspective to catch it. If you are a forgetful type of person, sign up for the PC Perspective Live mailing list that we use exclusively to notify users of upcoming live streaming events including these types of specials and our regular live podcast. I promise, no spam will be had!

Well would you look at that. The box is clearly labeled for an AMD Radeon R9 390X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, further indicating that the upcoming GPU will in fact be a Hawaii rebrand; and that the HBM-based flagship Fiji GPU we keep hearing about (and seeing pictures of) will have a new name. Whether that ends up being R9 490X or a name like “Fury” we will soon find out. As it is, it looks like we know at least part of what to expect from AMD’s gaming event at E3 on June 16.

Hmm. What might this be about??

Of course we will have complete coverage when any official announcement is made, but for now enjoy the accidental product reveal!

Update: XFX has removed the R9 390X images from their R9 290X DD product page, but not before numerous sitestooktheirownscreenshots before posting the news as well. There has been some disagreement about what the leaked photos actually reveal, or if anything has genuinely been "confirmed", but it seems likely that the product named 390X will be a rebranded 290X with 8GB of GDDR5.

So I'm not quite sure what this hypothetical patent device is. According to its application, it is a head-mounted display that contains six cameras (??) and two displays, one for each eye. The usage of these cameras is not define but two will point forward, two will point down, and the last two will point left and right. The only clue that we have is in the second patent application photo, where unlabeled hands are gesturing in front of a node labeled “input cameras”.

The block diagram declares that the VR headset will have its own CPU, memory, network adapter, and “parallel processing subsystem” (GPU). VRFocus believes that this will be based on the Tegra X1, and that it was supposed to be revealed three months ago at GDC 2015. In its place, NVIDIA announced the Titan X at the Unreal Engine 4 keynote, hosted by Epic Games. GameWorks VR was also announced with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti launch, which was mostly described as a way to reduce rendering cost by dropping resolution in areas that will be warped into a lower final, displayed resolution anyway.

VRFocus suggests that the reveal could happen at E3 this year. The problem with that theory is that NVIDIA has neither a keynote at E3 this year nor even a place at someone else's keynote as far as we know, just a booth and meeting rooms. Of course, they could still announce it through other channels, but that seems less likely. Maybe they will avoid the E3 hype and announce it later (unless something changes behind the scenes of course)?

All three will be quad-core parts that can range between 12W and 35W designs, although the A8 processor does not have a 35W mode listed in the AMD Dual Graphics table. The FX-8800P is an APU that has all eight GPU cores while the A-series APUs have six. The A10-8700P and the A8-8600P are separated by a couple hundred megahertz base and boost CPU clocks, and 80 MHz GPU clock.

Also, we have been given a table of AMD Radeon R5 and R7 M-series GPUs that can be paired with Carrizo in an AMD Dual Graphics setup. These GPUs are the R7 M365, R7 M360, R7 M350, R7 M340, R5 M335, and R5 M330. They cannot be paired with every Carrizo APU, and some pairings only work in certain power envelopes. Thankfully, this table should only be relevant to OEMs, because end-users are receiving pre-configured systems.

Sorry for all of these single item news posts I keep making, but this is how the information is coming out about AMD's upcoming Fiji GPU using new HBM (high bandwidth memory) technology. (And make no mistake this is exactly the way that AMD marketing dreamed it would happen.) Below we have an image of Fiji: the GPU die, the interposer and the four stacks of HBM.

Look familiar?

That chip is massive, quite simply, measuring about 70mm x 70mm based on the information presented during our HBM technical session last month. That is gigantic when compared to other GPU dies alone but is smaller than previous generation GPUs and the required memories on the PCB separately.

First and foremost, it looks like all of the leaks about the cooler and card design of Fiji were at least mostly accurate. Also, note that AMD included the #AMD300 tag in the tweet, leading us to believe that the R9 390X is indeed going to be the branding.

NVIDIA’s AIB partners are out in full force at Computex 2015 with new graphics cards and new coolers. Among the fray is Zotac with a customized GTX TITAN X card using the ArcticStorm Hybrid cooler which is an air cooler that also features a water block and can be integrated into your custom water cooling loop.

Of course, the TITAN X is NVIDIA’s top end Maxwell (GM200) graphics processor built on a 28nm process. It has 3,072 CUDA cores, 192 texture units, 96 ROPs, and a 250W TDP.

Zotac is factory overclocking this GPU to 1026 MHz base and 1114 MHz boost. The 12GB of GDDR5 memory sits on a 384-bit bus and is also (slightly) factory overclocked at 7010 MHz.

The card itself has the same array of video outputs (three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one DL-DVI) and the same PCI-E power connectors (6-pin + 8-pin) as the reference card.

The ArcticStorm Hybrid cooler can work as an air cooler or as an air + water cooler similar to ASUS’ Poseidon cards. The Zotac cooler features a copper cold plate paired with heatpipes and a large aluminum fin array cooled by three 90mm shrouded fans.

This cooler should run quieter than the NVIDIA reference card and, especially when connected to your custom liquid cooling loop, and offer lower temperatures. Zotac did not opt for two 8-pin PCI-E so extreme overclocking might be out of the question, but the card should still be heavily overclockable in general should you get a good chip.

Naturally, Zotac is holding off on pricing and availability details of the GTX TITAN X ArcticStorm (ZT-90402-10P) until it is ready to ship which should be soon. Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more details.

Hopefully by now you have familiarized yourself with Ryan's review of the new GTX980 Ti and perhaps even some of the other reviews below. One review that you should not miss is by Scott over at The Tech Report as they used an X99 system for benchmarking and covered a slightly different suite of games. The games both sites tested show very similar results and in the case of BF4 and Crysis 3, showed that the R9 295 X2 is still a force to be reckoned with, especially when it is on sale at a price similar to the 980 Ti. In testing the Witcher 3 and Project Cars, the 980Ti showed smoother performance with impressive minimum frame times. Overall, The Tech Report gives the nod to the new GTX 980 Ti for more fluid gameplay but does offer the necessary reminder, AMD will be launching their new products very soon and could offer new competition.

"You knew it was coming. When Nvidia introduced the GeForce Titan X, it was only a matter of time before a slightly slower, less expensive version of that graphics card hit the market. That's pretty much how it always happens, and this year is no exception."

Another interesting bit of news surrounding Computex and the new GTX 980 Ti comes from EVGA and its PrecisionX software. This is easily our favorite tool for overclocking and GPU monitoring, so it's great to see the company continuing to push forward with features and capability. EVGA is the first to add full support for DX12 with an overlay.

What does that mean? It means as DX12 applications that find their way out to consumers and media, we will now have a tool that can help measure performance and monitor GPU speeds and feeds via the PrecisionX overlay. Before this release, we were running the dark with DX12 demos, so this is great news!